Wireless problem - Question

[ozrica]

I am trying to link a Windows XP PRO machine and a Windows 98SE machine using two Netgear MA111 USB adapters. The machines are some way apart (five floors approx) up a long set of stairs with metal banasters.

I have set the dongles up so they can nearly see each other directly )line of site) though.

The Netgear Utility indicates only a 19% signal on both machines.

Before I ask for real help is the signal strong enough to share an internet connection?

Both adaptors are set up in Ad-Hoc mode with the same SSID.

[CeeBee]

As long as the signal strength is constant. However if a cat walks by you might lose your connection for few seconds.

[ozrica]

Well, there is no cat in the house but people obviously walk up and down the stairs!

Can I assume that 19% is OK?

[CeeBee]

Well, there is no cat in the house but people obviously walk up and down the stairs!

Can I assume that 19% is OK?
You can assume. Only trying will give you the right answer. There are cases in which with a 50% signal people still lose connection sometimes, but here in the office a laptop tested OK for hours with some 5%.

[confus-ed]

19% is pretty 'sh!tty' :eek2: ... how 'nearly' is nearly ? can it be nearer 'nearly' than it is ? :D

Atmospheric/time of day stuff, like someone turning something on etc, never mind the cat is gonna hit this ... 50/60ft away & only getting 19% ... lots of errors - gotta try it ! :D

[ozrica]

OK. I will ask for a bit of help then because I am unable to share an internet connection.

The XP PRO machine has an NTL broadband modem connected to an internal Netgear 10/100 NIC which works fine.

Both MA111's installed fine on each machine.

The Netgear utility pop's up on each machine with a green light and all seems fine.

I ran the network setup on the XP machine and created the floppy disk. Installed it on the 98SE machine with no problem.

Still no Internet connection on the 98SE machine.

I have removed the firewall on the XP machine and have made sure that the XP firewall is turned off (which it was anyway).

A couple of odd things that occured after running the network setup disk were:

The Netgear MA111 USB decive reporting with a yellow exclamation mark in 'Device Manager' but came back fine after another reboot.

If I try to assign an IP address (192.168.1.2) on the 98SE machine the Netgear shows a yellow exclamation mark again but STILL shows it after a reboot!

The 98SE machine uses an ECS K7S6A motherboard with a SIS chipset but after lots of google searching I cannot find any compatability problems.

I am not at the machines at the moment but some direction of things to try would be useful.

Thanks

[confus-ed]

Confus-ed again ! :)

You are gonna have to explain to me how these 'worked' to give you 19% signal strength reading - when apparently at least one nic is showing as 'bad/not correctly found' ... & are we still trying this like 50 ft away? if we are - try close up first ...

[ozrica]

Sorry for the delay..........

I can't get the machines closer as they are both bulky desktop machines.

When I clean install the device on the W98SE machine it all works fine. The Netgear software reports a 19% signal strength. If I move the dongle and re-scan it changes between 17% and 32%.

If I change the network properties under W98SE. For example assigning a fixed IP of 192.168.1.2 (SNM 255.255.255.0) the PC will restart and the device will show a yellow exclamation mark - saying not all the drivers are installed etc. If I remove the IP it goes back to working as above!

I have installed the latest drivers and software from the Netgear site.

[confus-ed]

..If I change the network properties under W98SE. For example assigning a fixed IP of 192.168.1.2 (SNM 255.255.255.0) the PC will restart and the device will show a yellow exclamation mark - saying not all the drivers are installed etc. If I remove the IP it goes back to working as above!..

Just to make absolutely sure, since I'm perplex-ed never mind confus-ed (which is 'worse' - :D) , by all these symptoms, ALL that you are doing is finding this :-
http://www.a5s.com/Media/98setu9.gif
& then this one ..
http://www.a5s.com/Media/98setu10.gif
& then choosing between 'server assigned' or 'specify' - nothing else at all ?

& that makes the NIC go 'bad' ? (well show up with a yellow '!') - you say 'the PC will restart' - what ? Straight away ? (it goes 'splat' or what?) or you mean after next boot it does that ?

[ozrica]

confus-ed......That is all I am doing. If changes are made the system must be restarted. It's not going 'splat' or anything!

If I remove the IP after the system has re-booted the Netgear goes back to being happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should I just give up?

[confus-ed]

confus-ed......That is all I am doing. If changes are made the system must be restarted. It's not going 'splat' or anything!

If I remove the IP after the system has re-booted the Netgear goes back to being happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should I just give up?

Well personally I'd call that defeatist ! ;)

Yup sure it ought to ask you to restart, I just wondered if it went splat ! & that was the reason why the yellow '!' appears - & that's why it won't work/makes yellow ! (which is pretty obvious) .. but why the hell changing what ip it gets can result in this I dunno for sure (& I'm not too sure about 'at all' ... :D)

You might try unistalling/reinstalling DUN (dialup networking -I know its broadband & you don't dial but it re-does tcp/ip & winsock too) from 98, & there's a new version of it that maybe might help too ...Dial-Up Networking 1.4 Upgrade (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q285/1/89.ASP&NoWebContent=1)

[ozrica]

Thanks. I have removed dial-up networking and re-installed but I will try the new version.

It must be something to do with the SIS chipset on the motherboard!

I am going to try a different product aswell to see what happens.

Thanks again.